Mazmur 43:1

Psalm 43 ¹ 

43:1 Vindicate me, O God!

Fight for me ²  against an ungodly nation!

Deliver me ³  from deceitful and evil men! ⁴ 

Mazmur 43:4

43:4 Then I will go ⁵  to the altar of God,

to the God who gives me ecstatic joy, ⁶ 

so that I express my thanks to you, ⁷  O God, my God, with a harp.

[43:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 43. Many medieval Hebrew mss combine Psalm 43 and Psalm 42 into one psalm. Psalm 43 is the only psalm in Book 2 of the Psalter (Psalms 42-72) that does not have a heading, suggesting that it was originally the third and concluding section of Psalm 42. Ps 43:5 is identical to the refrain in Ps 42:11 and almost identical to the refrain in Ps 42:5.

[43:1]  ² tn Or “argue my case.”

[43:1]  ³ tn The imperfect here expresses a request or wish. Note the imperatives in the first half of the verse. See also v. 3.

[43:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “from the deceitful and evil man.” The Hebrew text uses the singular form “man” in a collective sense, as the reference to a “nation” in the parallel line indicates.

[43:4]  ⁵ tn The cohortative expresses the psalmist’s resolve. Prefixed with the vav (ו) conjunctive it also expresses the result or outcome of the preceding verbs “lead” and “escort.”

[43:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “to God, the joy of my happiness.” The phrase “joy of my happiness” employs an appositional genitive. Synonyms are joined in a construct relationship to emphasize the degree of the psalmist’s joy. For a detailed discussion of the grammatical point with numerous examples, see Y. Avishur, “Pairs of Synonymous Words in the Construct State (and in Appositional Hendiadys) in Biblical Hebrew,” Semitics 2 (1971): 17-81.

[43:4]  ⁷ tn The cohortative with vav (ו) conjunctive probably indicates purpose (“so that”) or intention.